Container vessels await shipping at a port in Xiamen, Fujian province. [Photo by Wang Xieyun/China Daily]

Statistics showed that the total throughput of coastal ports in Fujian province in the January-to-October period this year was 575 million tons, up 11.7 percent year-on-year.

Specifically, the throughput of Meizhou Bay Port exceeded 90 million tons, the throughput of Quanzhou Port exceeded 70 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 27 percent, and the throughput of Fuzhou Port achieved 225 million tons, while the container throughput at Xiamen Port exceeded 10 million twenty-foot equivalent units.

All the ports in the province showed strong development growth, a vindication of Fujian's efforts in building world-class ports.

As Fujian province boasts rich port resources, the province has been focusing on building a core port area and assigning different tasks to ports according to their advantages.

The province has also increased the number of container routes and optimized the roads and railways to ports around the core port area, which has deep-water channels that can accommodate massive container vessels, oil tankers, and cargo ships.

In addition, the province has been bolstering its efforts to increase port efficiency, optimize customs clearance, and reduce costs to help the development of the ports and shipping companies.

There is currently also a strong focus on cultivating and developing large-scale leading port companies, which would help boost the port and shipping industry in the province.

For instance, the Fujian Provincial Port Group, which was established in August, has gathered and established six regional groups for port affairs in Fuzhou, Xiamen, Putian, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, and Ningde. It has 160 production berths and total assets worth more than 92 billion yuan ($14.44 billion).